Reggie’s not in the cells – I’m relieved. I sit beside Steph on the cold concrete floor and knead my bruised leg. ‘You all right?’
‘Yeah.’ She rubs her hands together. ‘Bit desperate for a ciggie. And I wish I had me jacket, it’s bloody freezing in here.’
I’ve got a flannie on so I offer her my hoodie. ‘What’s the story, you reckon?’
She gives me a wary look then accepts my hoodie, pulls it over her threadbare T-shirt. ‘Dumb bust. Dunno what they expected to find. Nobody’s batching, and nobody sells outta their bloodyhouse– unless they wanna get robbed.’
‘What about Baby Mama over there?’ I cut my eyes at the crying girl.
Steph makes a ‘pfft’ sound. ‘Neighbourhood troll, hunting for freebies. She knows Kev will do anything for a root. And she’ll do anything for a pipe.’
‘So why the bust?’
She shrugs. ‘Best guess, they know something’s up. They know the house. They’re probably trying to rattle Snowie’s cage.’
I think she might be right on the money. Steph doesn’t use, Barry’s not a resident, I’m clean as a whistle. Kevin was the only idiot with gear in his room, and that was for private consumption. No quantities. If the cops were hoping to find some million-dollar drug lab in the Mildura suburbs, they’ve screwed this up royally. On the other hand, if they were just trying to shake up Snowie’s household, see what fell loose…
We’ve already been here two hours when suddenly Baby Mama starts screaming. It takes another twenty minutes to get sense out of her, and that’s when we find out the baby is back at her place. Alone. She left a six-month-old alone in the house while she went to score – that was four hours ago. The cops are nice enough to send a car over. I cross my arms over my chest and tuck my chin into my neck as Baby Mama cries like her heart’s gonna break. The whole thing makes me feel sick.
They let us all go, except for Kevin and the mother of the baby, a few trying hours later. Baby Mama gets her baby back, carries it with her into an interview room. We’re asked if we want to make a statement, which we graciously decline. Kevin’ll have to go through the grinding process of court appearance, but they’ve got nothing to hold me and Steph on.
But something is different. Something has definitely changed. Because I’m in the system, now: I’ve been name-checked, fingerprinted, processed. My current place of abode has been noted. When I went to sleep last night I was ‘under-the-radar just-Harris’. But now…
Person of interest. Known associate. Material witness.
The cops have lots of polite names for it, but none of those count. The one they use amongst themselves, that’s the important one.
I’m officially a scrote.
